UK Election Live Coverage: Labour Officially Holds Parliamentary Majority

Election poll booths in the UK have closed, and official results are flowing in, and showing a massive victory for the Labour Party. Having surpassed 326 seats, they have secured a parliamentary majority by a huge margin. Keir Starmer is now set to become the next Prime Minister of the UK.

At the end of this article may be viewed a summary of some of the major party’s electoral platforms.

Official Results

The current results may be viewed below.

648/650 constituencies have declared their seats. The last two remaining constituencies, Inverness, and Skye and West Ross-shire, will not complete counting until tomorrow morning.

As of 5:32AM EST:

• Labour: 412 seats, 33.8 percent of the vote.
• Conservatives: 121 seats, 23.7 percent of the vote.
• Reform UK: 4 seats, 14.3 percent of the vote.
• Liberal Democrats: 71 seats, 12.2 percent of the vote.
• Green: 4 seats, 6.8 percent of the vote.
• Plaid Cymru: 4 seats, 0.7 percent of the vote.
• Scottish National Party: 9 seats, 2.5 percent of the vote.
• Sinn Fein: 7 seats, 0.7 percent of the vote
• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland: 1 seat, 0.4 percent of the vote.
• Democratic Unionist Party: 5 seats, 0.6 percent of the vote.
• Social Democratic and Labour Party: 2 seats, 0.3 percent of the vote.
• Ulster Unionist Party: 1 seat, 0.3 percent of the vote.
• Independents: 7 seats, 2.9 percent of the vote.

Exit Polls

Exit polls, which were released at 10PM local time, show the Labour Party securing a large majority, having won 410 of the UK House of Commons’ 650 seats. In order to secure a majority, a party must win 326 seats, a mark the Labour Party has well surpassed. The Conservative Party came in second place in the exit polls, at 131 seats.

A Labour victory was expected, with the Conservative’s popularity having dropped significantly in recent years after several political crises and leadership changes, economic turmoil, and controversies both through their policies and the actions of many Conservative politicians.

However, the huge Conservative loss shown in the exit polls has never been seen before in their party. If official results agree with the exit polls, this election will have been the Conservatives largest ever loss since the 1830’s, when the party was founded.

Further, the Labour Party’s performance in exit polls puts them close to the Labour Party’s majority record, which was set by Tony Blair in 1997 when he secured a majority of 179, compared to the projected 170 Starmer has secured.

The almost certain victory of the Labour Party puts an end to 14 years of Conservative rule in the UK. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is likely to remain as a Member of Parliament (MP), having reportedly secured his seat, but is unlikely to remain the leader of the Conservative Party. The party is probably to undergo yet another leadership contest, as the party picks an MP to carry Sunak’s torch.

The new Labour government will likely see several Conservative policies be repealed or changed. Thus far, the Labour Party has only explicitly stated wishes to repeal the UK’s Rwanda scheme, the Conservative Party’s plan to deport illegal migrants and illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The exit polls may be viewed below:

• Labour Party: 410 Seats
• Conservative Party: 131 Seats
• Liberal Democrats: 61 Seats
• Reform UK: 13 Seats
• The SNP: 10 Seats
• Plaid Cymru: 4 Seats
• The Green Party: 2 Seats

Below is a brief of some of the major party’s platforms, written in cooperation by Sebastien Gray and Konstantinos K.

Conservatives:

The Conservative Party’s platform is lengthy, but can be summarized into a few main points.

1. Economic. The Conservatives have outlined a series of economic policies. They have promised to cut taxes on the working class and pensioners, reduce inflation, reduce debt to below 3% of GDP, make significant investments into infrastructure (with a focus on rail lines and other transportation infrastructure), make significant investments into R&D (with a focus on AI technologies), reform the welfare system, increase the National Living Wage, increase defense spending to 2.5%, and increase funding to the National Health Service.
2. Social. The Conservatives have put forward several social policies. One of the most prominent is a recently announced policy to re-introduce National Service to the UK. When UK citizens turn 18, they will be provided with the choice of one year of military service or in “cyber defense” or one weekend a month (for a total of 25 days a year) doing civic service, such as community volunteering. In addition, the Conservatives have promised to “guarantee the contested concept of gender identity is not taught to children,” hire additional police officers and reinforce the nation’s police forces, make efforts to tackle violent crime in the nation (in particular against women and girls), ensure the equality of opportunity, and offer support to sport and cultural centers.
3. Climate and energy. The Conservatives have outlined several climate and energy related policies, including significant investment and expansion to renewable energies, including wind and nuclear power, with the goal of reaching net zero emissions in the UK by 2050.
4. Migration. The Conservatives seek to implement a cap upon migration, the level of which is to lower across several years, crack down on human trafficking, establish a series of deterrents for illegal migration (most notably the Rwanda plan), enhance cooperation with nations such as France to prevent illegal migration across the English Channel, and prioritize high-skill immigration.

The Conservative Party’s full manifesto may be viewed here.

Labour:

In the Labour Party’s platform, they outline five different “missions to rebuild Britain,” as well as a series of first steps their government will take upon election.

The Labour Party has stated that their “first steps for change” will be:

1. To “deliver economic stability with tough spending rules.”
2. To “cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week.”
3. To “launch a new Border Security Command with hundreds of new specialist investigators and use counter-terror powers to smash criminal boat gangs.”
4. To “set up Great British Energy, a publicly-owned clean power company, to cut bills for good and boost energy security.”
5. To “crack down on antisocial behaviour, with more neighbourhood police paid for by ending wasteful contracts, tough new penalties for offenders, and a new network of youth hubs.”
6. As well as to “recruit 6,500 new teachers in key subjects to set children up for life, work and the future.”

Their specific five “missions to rebuild Britain” are listed as follows:

1. Kickstart economic growth.
2. Make Britain a clean energy superpower.
3. Take back our streets.
4. Break down barriers to opportunity.
5. Build an NHS fit for the future.

In order to “kickstart economic growth,” the Labour Party has promised to enact “tough spending rules,” invest heavily in infrastructure development and job creation (with a particular focus on rebuilding the UK’s steel industry and building automotive factories), establish national 5G coverage, overhaul the UK’s rail system, increase support for small businesses, construct 1.5 million new homes, and ensure the “minimum wage is a genuine living wage.”

In order to “make Britain a clean energy superpower,” the Labour Party has promised to reach a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030, build additional nuclear power plants, expand renewable energy sources, create Great British Energy, a new publicly-owned clean energy company, push for net-zero emissions, crack down on water pollution, and create an estimated 650,000 high-quality jobs in the British clean energy sector.

In order to “take back our streets,” the Labour Party has vowed to hire thousands of new police and community support officers, restore patrols to town centres, crack down on “antisocial behaviour,” ban repeat adult offenders from town centres, ban “ninja swords, lethal zombie-style blades and machetes” and introduce consequences for youth found to be carrying knives in an effort to reduce knife crime, halve violence against women and girls, specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force, fast-track rape cases with specialist courts, and introduce measures to reduce re-offence rates.

The Labour Party has stated that in order to “break down barriers to opportunity,” they are hiring 6,500 new teachers in key subjects, introducing free breakfast clubs in all primary schools, banning “zero hours contracts,” enhancing cooperation with unions, reforming workplace pensions, build an additional 3,000 nurseries, raise school standards, work to guarantee training, apprenticeships, or assistance in finding work for 18-21-year-olds, increasing access to cultural, musical, and sport elements in the country, and working to increase equality measures in the nation.

Lastly, in order to “build an NHS fit for the future,” the Labour Party has vowed to create an additional 40,000 appointments each weak for scans, operations, and other medical visits, re-establish a maximum of 18 weeks of wait time from referral for consultant-led treatment of non-urgent health conditions, take steps to modernize the NHS, train thousands more midwives in order to ensure better maternity care, train thousands of general practitioners (GPs) in order to increase medical access, hire 8,500 new mental health staff to service both adults and children, and reform mental health legislation.

In addition, the Labour Party also seeks to lower the voting age to 16 years old.

The Labour Party’s full manifesto may be viewed here.

Reform UK:

The Reform UK Party, led by prominent Brexiteer and far-right populist Nigel Farage, seeks to capitalize on the “opportunity of a lifetime” presented by Brexit. The party aims to disrupt the Tory and Labour-dominated two-party system, offering a nativist alternative to address the UK’s financial challenges, “record mass immigration,” and the perceived failures of multiculturalism and “woke ideology.”

Immigration tops the Reform UK Party’s election manifesto. The party outlines a seven-point blueprint that includes returning illegal migrants to France, denaturalizing convicted foreign nationals, tightening visa restrictions for international students, instituting a minimum five-year residency requirement for welfare benefits, and imposing an immigration tax on businesses employing foreign workers.

Regarding Brexit, the Reform UK Party advocates for a hard Brexit and a decisive break from the European Union. The party criticizes Conservative leadership for not seizing the “huge opportunities” available. Farage’s party pledges to repeal remaining EU legislation, abandon the Windsor Framework—which secures Northern Ireland’s place in the EU’s common market and regulates goods transfers from Great Britain—and renegotiate trade relations with the bloc.

The party also emphasizes the reinforcement of “English national identity,” proposing the institution of St. George’s Day and St. David’s Day as public holidays. To further advance “British culture, identity, and values,” the party aims to replace and repeal the 2010 Equalities Act as well as Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

On economic matters, Reform pledges to raise the income tax threshold to £20,000 per year, lower fuel duty, and repeal VAT on energy bills and inheritance tax for properties valued under £2 million. Additionally, the party proposes halving the Foreign Office’s foreign aid budget, which has already been reduced by about £4 billion since 2021.